South Africa at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Updated on Oct 23, 2023

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IOC code RSA 0 0		Website www.sascoc.co.za

NOC South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee Competitors 50 (44 men and 6 women) in 10 sports Medals Ranked 33rd Gold Silver Bronze Total 0 0 4 4

The Union of South Africa competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. 50 competitors, 44 men and 6 women, took part in 50 events in 10 sports.

Bronze

Daniel Bekker — Boxing, Men's Heavyweight

Henry Loubscher — Boxing, Men's Light Welterweight

Alfred Swift — Cycling, Men's 1.000m Time Trial

Moira Abernethy, Jeanette Myburgh, Natalie Myburgh and Susan Roberts — Swimming, Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

Athletics

Men's 110m Hurdles

Danie Burger

Heat — 14.4s

Semifinals — 15.0s (→ did not advance)

Men's Marathon

Mercer Davis — 2:39:48 (→ 14th place)

Jan Barnard — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Men's Discus Throw

Fanie du Plessis

Qualifying Heat — 50.69

Final — 48.49 (→ 13th place)

Cycling

Sprint

Thomas Shardelow — 8th place

Time trial

Alfred Swift — 1:11.6 (→ Bronze Medal)

Tandem

Raymond Robinson
Thomas Shardelow — 7th place

Team pursuit

Alfred Swift
Anne Jan Hettema
Charles Jonker
Robert Fowler — 4:39.4 (→ 4th place)

Individual road race

Alfred Swift — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Robert Fowler — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Anne Jan Hettema — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Charles Jonker — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Modern pentathlon

Three male pentathletes represented South Africa in 1956.

Individual

Okkie van Greunen

Harry Schmidt

Marthinus du Plessis

Team

Okkie van Greunen

Harry Schmidt

Marthinus du Plessis

Shooting

Two shooters represented South Africa in 1956.

50 m rifle, three positions

Robin Lavine

50 m rifle, prone

Johannes Human

Robin Lavine

References

South Africa at the 1956 Summer Olympics Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA